II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 954 

To promote the strengthening of the Haitian private sector. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 11, 2011 

Mr. LUGAR introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To promote the strengthening of the Haitian private sector. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Haitian-American En5 terprise Fund Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 

7 The purposes of this Act are— 

8 (1) to promote the Haitian private sector, in9 cluding small businesses, the agricultural sector, and 

10 joint ventures with United States and Haitian par11 ticipants; and 


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1 (2) to promote policies and practices conducive 

2 to the private sector in Haiti through loans, grants, 

3 equity investments, feasibility studies, technical as4 sistance, training, insurance, guarantees, and other 

5 measures. 

6 SEC. 3. HAITIAN-AMERICAN ENTERPRISE FUND. 

7 (a) DESIGNATION.—After consultation with the lead8 ership of each House of Congress, the President may des9 ignate a private, nonprofit organization, which has been 

10 established for the purposes specified in section 2 and 

11 which shall be known as the ‘‘Haitian-American Enter12 prise Fund’’, to receive financial assistance and support 

13 made available under this Act. 

14 (b) BOARD OF DIRECTORS.— 

15 (1) APPOINTMENT.—The Haitian-American 

16 Enterprise Fund shall be governed by a Board of 

17 Directors, which shall be comprised of 6 private citi18 zens of the United States or Haiti, appointed by the 

19 President, of which not more than 2 may be citizens 

20 of Haiti. 

21 (2) QUALIFICATIONS.—Member of the Board of 

22 Directors shall be selected from among people who 

23 have had successful business careers in private eq24 uity, banking, or finance that is similar to the expe25 rience of individuals who previously served on the 


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1 Board of Directors of a successful Enterprise Fund 

2 established by the United States Government on or 

3 after January 1, 1990. 

4 (3) ADDITIONAL BOARD MEMBERS.—Upon the 

5 recommendation of the Board of Directors, the 

6 President may appoint up to 2 additional members 

7 to the Board (in addition to the Directors appointed 

8 pursuant to paragraph (1)), of which not more than 

9 1 may be a citizen of Haiti. 

10 (c) GRANTS.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Amounts appropriated to 

12 the President pursuant to section 7 shall be granted 

13 to the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund by the 

14 United States Agency for International Development 

15 to enable the Fund to carry out the purposes speci16 fied in section 2 and for the administrative expenses 

17 of the Fund. 

18 (2) ELIGIBLE PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS.— 

19 Grants awarded under this section may only be used 

20 for programs and projects that support the purposes 

21 set forth in section 2. 

22 (3) COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENT.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—Grants may not be 

24 awarded to the Haitian-American Enterprise 

25 Fund under this section unless the Fund agrees 


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1 to comply with the requirements under this sec2 tion. 

3 (B) GRANT AGREEMENT.—The grant 

4 agreement between the United States Agency 

5 for International Development (referred to in 

6 this section as ‘‘USAID’’) and the Haitian7 American Enterprise Fund shall state that the 

8 Fund shall end its reinvestment cycle not later 

9 than December 31, 2021, unless the USAID 

10 Administrator determines, after consultation 

11 with the appropriate congressional committees, 

12 that the Fund should be extended. 

13 (C) PREVENTION OF MONEY LAUNDERING

14 AND TERRORIST FINANCING.—The grant agree15 ment between USAID and the Haitian-Amer16 ican Enterprise Fund shall state that the Fund 

17 shall comply with procedures specified by the 

18 Secretary of State to ensure that grant funds 

19 are not provided by the Fund to or through— 

20 (i) any individual, private or govern21 ment entity, or educational institution that 

22 advocates, plans, sponsors, engages in, or 

23 has engaged in, money laundering or ter24 rorist activity; or 


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1 (ii) any private entity or educational 

2 institution if a principal officer of its gov3 erning board is— 

4 (I) involved in or advocating 

5 money laundering or terrorist activity; 

6 or 

7 (II) a member of a designated 

8 foreign terrorist organization. 

9 (D) DISPOSITION OF ASSETS.—All assets 

10 of the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund on 

11 the date on which the Fund is dissolved shall 

12 be returned to the Treasury of the United 

13 States for the purpose of deficit reduction. 

14 (d) NOTIFICATION.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 15 days be16 fore designating an organization to operate as the 

17 Haitian-American Enterprise Fund pursuant to sub18 section (a), the President shall provide the informa19 tion described in paragraph (2) to the Chairman and 

20 Ranking Member of the appropriate congressional 

21 committees. 

22 (2) INFORMATION.—The information described 

23 in this paragraph is— 


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1 (A) the identity of the organization to be 

2 designated to operate as the Haitian-American 

3 Enterprise Fund pursuant to subsection (a); 

4 (B) the names and qualifications of the in5 dividuals who will comprise the Initial Board; 

6 (C) the procedures referred to in sub7 section (c)(3)(C) that will apply to the Haitian8 American Enterprise Fund for purposes of cur9 tailing money laundering and terrorist financing 

10 activities; and 

11 (D) the size of the financial grant that 

12 shall be made available to the Haitian-American 

13 Enterprise Fund. 

14 (e) REPORTS.— 

15 (1) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Not later 

16 than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 

17 Act, and annually thereafter until the Fund is dis18 solved, the Fund shall submit a report to the appro19 priate congressional committees that details the ad20 ministrative expenses of the Fund. 

21 (2) GAO REPORT.—Not later than 3 years 

22 after the date of the enactment of this Act, and 

23 every 3 years thereafter until the Fund is dissolved, 

24 the Comptroller General of the United States shall 

25 submit a report to the appropriate congressional 


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1 committees that assesses the activities of the Fund 

2 in— 

3 (A) achieving the stated goals of promoting 

4 private sector investment and employment in 

5 Haiti; and 

6 (B) identifying those institutional or regu7 latory constraints that inhibit a more effective 

8 application of Fund resources. 

9 (f) DEFINED TERM.—In this section, the term ‘‘ap10 propriate congressional committees’’ means— 

11 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 

12 Senate; 

13 (2) the Committee on Appropriations of the 

14 Senate; 

15 (3) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

16 House of Representatives; and 

17 (4) the Committee on Appropriations of the 

18 House of Representatives. 

19 SEC. 4. OPERATION PROVISIONS. 

20 (a) APPLICABLE PROVISIONS.—Subsections (d)(5), 

21 (g), (h), (i), (k), (l), (m), (n), (o), and (p) of section 201 

22 of the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) 

23 Act of 1989 (Public Law 101–179; 22 U.S.C. 5421) shall 

24 apply with respect to the Haitian-American Enterprise 

25 Fund in the same manner as such provisions apply to EnVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:17 May 13, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S954.IS S954

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1 terprise Funds designated pursuant to subsection (d) of 

2 such section. 

3 (b) REINVESTMENT.—Returns on investments of the 

4 Haitian-American Enterprise Fund and other payments to 

5 the Fund may be reinvested in projects carried out by the 

6 Fund without further appropriation by Congress. 

7 SEC. 5. BEST PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES. 

8 To the maximum extent practicable, the Board of Di9 rectors of the Haitian-American Enterprise Fund should 

10 adopt the best practices and procedures used by Enter11 prise Funds, including those for which funding has been 

12 made available pursuant to section 201 of the Support for 

13 East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 (Public 

14 Law 101–179; 22 U.S.C. 5421). 

15 SEC. 6. EXPERIENCE OF OTHER ENTERPRISE FUNDS. 

16 In implementing this Act, the President shall ensure 

17 that the Articles of Incorporation of the Haitian-American 

18 Enterprise Fund (including provisions specifying the re19 sponsibilities of the Board of Directors of the Fund), the 

20 terms of United States Government grant agreements 

21 with the Fund, and United States Government oversight 

22 of the Fund are, to the maximum extent practicable, con23 sistent with the Articles of Incorporation of, the terms of 

24 grant agreements with, and the oversight of the Enter25 prise Funds established pursuant to section 201 of the 


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1 Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 

2 1989 (22 U.S.C. 5421) and comparable provisions of law. 

3 SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro5 priated to the President such sums as may be necessary 

6 to provide funding for grants to the Haitian-American En7 terprise Fund, which shall be used for the purposes speci8 fied in section 2. 

9 (b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts appro10 priated pursuant to subsection (a) shall remain available 

11 until expended. 

12 (c) NONAPPLICABILITY OF OTHER LAWS.—Notwith13 standing any other provision of law, amounts appropriated 

14 pursuant to subsection (a) may be used to carry out this 

15 Act. 

Æ 


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